CGTN Nature film crew recently shot the endangered black-faced spoonbill foraging and preening in Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong, China. 

The bird with signature black spatula-like bill favors fish and shrimp in the wetlands. Its long legs and long bill help it easily make a hearty meal. Before the black-faced spoonbill leaves this bountiful wintering ground, it will need to eat as much as possible to store up energy to travel to the breeding ground on small rocky islands near the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). 

Due to habitat loss, its global population in 1994 was less than 500. Thanks to conservation efforts in recent decades, the number of black-faced spoonbill in the world has increased to 4,463, according to the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (HKBWS). 

Mai Po Nature Reserve and the surrounding Inner Deep Bay wetlands are a haven for migratory birds that travel along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Every year, a quarter of the world's black-faced spoonbill migrate there. As the weather gets warmer, they will soon migrate north. 

(Cover image via VCG, video credits to CGTN Nature's film crew)

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